Morant Gets 5th Weekly OVC Award - Racers Receive Top-25 Votes

It was an eventful Monday for the Murray State Racers as Ja Morant racked up more weekly honors and the Racers received votes in a national poll. Morant was voted the Ohio Valley Conference men's basketball Player of the Week Monday for the fifth time this season for the week of Jan. 7-13.

The sophomore from Dalzell, S.C. was a unanimous selection in a vote by the league's sports information directors.

He started the week with a monster game at UT Martin (Jan. 10) with 26 points and 18 assists. Morant's game set the MSU single-game assist record as he surpassed the 1997 mark of 16 assists by MSU's Chad Townsend (vs Eastern Illinois) Morant was just two off the OVC assist record of 20 by Middle Tennessee's James Johnson in 1986 (Vs Freed-Hardeman).

After a 17 point/14 assist game at Southeast Missouri (Jan. 12), Morant averaged 21.5 points per game and 16 assists for the week. Morant is the No. 1 player in the nation in assist rate at 56.4 percent.

With a fifth weekly honor, Morant ties Cameron Payne (2013-15), Isaac Spencer (1997-01), Lamont Sleets 1979-84 and Glen Green (1979-83) for sixth place all-time in total OVC Player of the Week awards. Isaiah Canaan (2009-13) and Marcus Brown (1992-96) each set the bar for the Racers with 10 career honors each. Popeye Jones (1988-92) and Jeff Martin (1986-89) each had seven and Frank Allen (1989-93) was honored six times.

In addition to Morant's five OVC Player of the Week honors, the Racers have also won four OVC Freshman of the Week awards with three from Tevin Brown and one from KJ Williams.

The Racers travel north this week looking to improve on their 4-0 start in OVC play. MSU (13-2) plays Thursday at Eastern Illinois in a 7 p.m. tip at Lantz Arena in Charleston and Saturday at SIUE in the Vadalabene Center in Edwardsville, Ill.

When the Associated Press Top-25 Poll was released Monday, the Racers learned they were getting votes for the first time this season and for the first time since 2015. With nine total points in the votes, the Racers are No. 36 in the country this week. The Racers received two votes for 23^rd place and three votes for 25^th place.

2018-19 OVC PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
PLAYER
Nov. 12 Nick Mayo, Eastern Kentucky
Nov. 19 Terry Taylor, Austin Peay
Nov. 26 Ja Morant, Murray State
Dec. 3 Ja Morant, Murray State
Dec. 10 Nick Mayo, Eastern Kentucky
Dec. 17 Terry Taylor, APSU & Kevin McClain, Belmont
Dec. 26 Ja Morant, Murray State
Dec. 31 Mack Smith, Eastern Illinois
Jan. 7 Ja Morant, Murray State
Jan. 14 Ja Morant, Murray State

NEWCOMER
Nov. 12 Donte Fitzpatrick-Dorsey, Tennessee State
Nov. 19 Skyler Hogan, Southeast Missouri
Nov. 26 Josiah Wallace, Eastern Illinois
Dec. 3 Quintin Dove, UT Martin
Dec. 10 Skyler Hogan, Southeast Missouri
Dec. 17 Donte Fitzpatrick-Dorsey, Tennessee State
Dec. 26 Kelvin Robinson, Eastern Kentucky
Dec. 31 Shareef Smith, Eastern Illinois & Quintin Dove, UT Martin
Jan. 7 Josiah Wallace, Eastern Illinois
Jan. 14 Jabari McGhee, Austin Peay

FRESHMAN
Nov. 12 Tevin Brown, Murray State
Nov. 19 Nick Muszynski, Belmont
Nov. 26 Jomaru Brown, Eastern Kentucky & Hunter Vick, Tennessee Tech
Dec. 3 Jr. Clay, Tennessee Tech
Dec. 10 Nick Muszynski, Belmont
Dec. 17 Tevin Brown, Murray State
Dec. 26 Tevin Brown, Murray State
Dec. 31 Cam Burrell, Eastern Illinois
Jan. 7 KJ Williams, MUR & Cameron Williams, SIUE
Jan. 14 Nick Muszynski, Belmont

Murray State University Athletics

Morant Gets 5th Weekly OVC Award - Racers Receive Top-25 Votes

Players Mentioned

Tevin Brown

Isaiah Canaan

Ja Morant

KJ Williams

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